The Express trailed most of the way and faced a 14-point deficit in the third quarter before Gary David stepped up to provide his team the needed push in the end.
David, a former MVP in the PBL, showed some flashy moves and hit 12 of his game-high 25 points in the fourth quarter. His basket in the final 3:04 put the Express ahead and never to trail again.
"I’m just happy that they stepped up in the end. It was my local players who stepped up," said Air21 coach Bo Perasol who’s just trying to make the most from his players on hand.
"The problem with having a team that’s having a lot of movement is not that we’re lacking in talent but how to motivate those left behind to really fight," he said.
Perasol said that while losing good players to trades may have affected the morale of the team, it’s the challenge on how to motivate his players that keeps him on his toes.
In just over a year, Air21 has lost key players like Ren Ren Ritualo, Ronald Tubid and Yancy de Ocampo to trades. And recently, it yielded Ranidel de Ocampo to the national team.
"It’s not easy to motivate your players with all those player movements. But we’re still being given a chance. It’s all up to us what we’re going to do with that chance," Perasol added.
Air21 import Shawn Daniels made life hard for the Realtors. He only scored 13 points in 41 minutes, but got away with 17 rebounds, three assists, two blocks and a steal.
His counterpart from Sta. Lucia, Rock Winston, had 18 points and 17 rebounds. However, he was hardly a factor in the end, scoring only four points in the final 12 minutes.